


A Night of Storm

by Elleth



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Gen, Mild Action/Adventure, Missing in Action, Slice of Life, Storms, Trick or Treat: Chocolate Box, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 06:52:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12576148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth
Summary: Tuuri's dayscout girlfriend doesn't return from patrol on time. And there's something bigger coming for Keuruu.





	A Night of Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [IdleLeaves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdleLeaves/gifts).



> Set while Tuuri and Ieva are teenagers, around 15 or 16. Hope you enjoy. <3

A gust of wind whipped fallen birch leaves from the mud along the road to Lapinsalmi gate. Tuuri pulled a face as she walked; Ieva was jogging circles around her, dodging puddles from the recent rain. 

"And you're sure you're still going out? The storm is going to get worse before it gets better; I don't like how heavy the air feels," Tuuri said, and stopped short. Ieva ran another circle around her, short curls standing on end in frazzles before the wind pressed them flat against her head again. 

"It's going to be fine, Tuuri. Promise. It's not even two kilometers to Häntämäki outpost, and they need this medicine," said Ieva, stopping without even being short of breath, and patted the leather bag slung over her shoulder.

"One way," said Tuuri. "It's twice that to get back here, _and_ it's the road through the ruins. What do they even need the medicine _for_?"

Ieva shrugged. "Someone got hurt, I guess? It's antibiotics and bandages and that sort of stuff, maybe they ran out. The Häntämäki crew is a bit flakey when it comes to keeping their stores stocked; last time I got there and had to file a sighting report, no one even had a pen that worked." 

Tuuri snorted. "That isn't really making me feel better about your going there." She tilted her head up to the slate-grey sky. "And it's getting dark already. You're not even a night-scout, or a mage. I'll run and find Lalli, he can go, nobody has to know. I-i... just don't like this feeling I'm getting." 

"Look," Ieva was pleading now. "They've given me three hours to get there and back. That's until sunset, and plenty of time; I'll make it sooner. And if I don't, I'll sit out the storm in the outpost and radio in so you don't go all-out Onni on me, okay?" 

"I'm _not_!" Tuuri said, but they'd almost reached the gate; the tinny rattle of the generator-windmill turning in the storm made talking - or protesting - a moot point. Tuuri mouthed an unhappy "okay", and could almost see the syllables being torn apart by the wind. 

Ieva pecked Tuuri on the lips and made to run, but Tuuri seized her by the shoulder and pulled her back in to kiss her properly. 

* 

"Did anybody radio in from Häntämäki?" Tuuri poked her head into the radio station an hour after sunset and Ieva's supposed return - no one had come through disinfection, she'd been told at the gate, and, since the storm had picked up with nightfall, no night scouts were going to go out. Ieva was probably going to have to spend the night there, like she'd said, and send out a radio call like she'd promised. Still, Tuuri couldn't help fretting. 

The door slammed shut behind Tuuri in a gust of wind as she made her way into the station. 

She was relieved to find that one of Onni's mage friends was on shift, although she didn't seem to have noticed, eyes clenched shut, hands clasped over her headphones and frowning; her mouth worked soundlessly and blue sparks crackled along her fingers. 

"Ugh!" Lemmikki tore the headphones off and tossed them onto the desk before her, breathing heavily. "There's no getting through. Sorry, Tuuri." She opened her eyes, glancing back over her shoulder.

Tuuri jumped. Lemmikki was good at that sort of thing - figuring who was in the room with her without looking. 

"Oh, okay. Is it just the storm, or…" 

"There's something powerful out there jamming all the frequencies. I can't really tell, except that it's a lot of voices. A giant, maybe," said Lemmikki. I'd not be surprised if they called the mages to emergency stations soon - is your brother home?" 

"Am I out after dark?" Tuuri rolled her eyes. It didn't help to stave off the feeling of dread. "No, Onni's working tonight, he'll be right there if they need him. Can you tell where the powerful thing is? I-it's not near Häntämäki, is it?" 

Lemmikki shrugged. "Hard to say, it might be. Why are you worried about them - is Lalli scouting there tonight?" 

The crushing feeling of worry and misery that she'd kept pushing down overwhelmed Tuuri suddenly, and she slumped onto a bench by the door. "Ieva is out there. She was _supposed_ to be back an hour ago, and she told me she'd be quick, or else call in… but she wasn't, and if she hasn't even called..." 

"Hey." Lemmikki came to join Tuuri, kneeling on the floor before her. "You know how it is, she's not gone until they say she is. She probably made it just fine, but with this thing jamming the connection, she's trying to get through to us the same we're trying to get through to them. They don't even have a radio mage there, just a regular one. If I can't unjam things from here, he definitely can't - why?" 

"Because you're the best radio mage in Keuruu," Tuuri said. She knew it was true, too, but it didn't help her feel better or make her stop worrying. "But she's my girlfriend, I want to know that she's okay!" 

"Tell you what. You stay here, grab some rest, and I'll wake you when I reach them, okay?"

The wind hissed and howled, almost like laughter. Outside the radio station, a roof tile fell and shattered. Tuuri breathed out through her nose, slowly, and nodded. "I wish I were immune, so I could go look for her."

*

Tuuri dreamt of pine-trees buffeted by blasts of wind, splintering and uprooted like toothpicks by the hands of something immense and darker than the storm night making its way; alarms blaring faint and red from the wall, and a small, bright light on the forest floor running like a hare in a stumbling zigzag until it reached the shore and dove into the lake out of its reach. 

_Maybe a giant_ said Lemmikki's voice, echoing faintly. _Giant, definitely a giant, Tuuri, wake_ up!" 

A hand on her shoulder yanked Tuuri out of sleep, a mask was pushed into her face, and she fumbled it on with clumsy fingers and was almost out the door before Lemmikki's white face swam into focus for a moment. "YOU! Shelter! Now!" 

Still only half-awake, Tuuri ran - but not in direction of the shelter. In the red glare of the alarms dipping the empty Keuruu streets into blood, stark lightning white and darkness, she turned and ran for the gate. Further north, a blue glare of magic flashed, and _something_ screeched in answer. Gunfire and explosions popped in the distance. 

For a second, she thought something vast and terrible set its sight on her from a distance as she ran, almost stumbling to a halt under the weight of it, the impression that it - they, all the minds forced together that made up the giant, a screaming, writhing mass - could see her, or smell her - but more magic flashed blue into the storm, and the attention let go of her, shifting back to the fight. 

The gatehouse clock was striking near midnight; the station itself was abandoned when Tuuri rushed in, books and a game and steaming mugs on the table, light still on - she couldn't lower the bridge - too dangerous even with the giant a good deal away, and she didn't know how, but the the stair up to the outer walls was unguarded. Tuuri cast around wildly for something, anything, seized a rope from a storage shelf and ran up, taking the stairs two at a time. 

Ieva was still out there. And the giant. 

Outside, high-up and exposed, the wind hit her full in the face, driving water into Tuuri's eyes so that the immense shape of the giant in the distance on the other side of the lake blurred, and she cast around frantically for the light she'd seen, Ieva - it had to be her - she'd go looking for her herself if she had to, even with the giant out there. 

She'd gotten away. She _had to_ have gotten away! 

Tuuri tied the rope to the wooden bannister and let it fall down the other side, and called as loud as she dared. Then, a flash on something below, a dark shape moving jerkily in the alarm lights and beginning to climb. Tuuri stifled a shriek, dropping to the floor and pulling her knees up. 

No human moved that way. 

Then, a wet, cold shape, falling down over the top of the wall half onto Tuuri. Slick skin, panting, and a noise halfway between a laugh and a wet sob. Arms went around Tuuri, and she bit down hard on her lip to stifle the sounds of terror that wanted out. Any second now, claws and teeth would close around her. Sour peat stench pushed through the filters of her mask. 

She had given a troll the way right into Keuruu… at least she wouldn't be around to be put on trial for her idiocy. 

The arms tightened around her for a squeeze, then the shape fell back against the wall, pushing… a hood… out of… _her_ face.

A spell of red light revealed Ieva, gone slack with relief and exhaustion. 

"I sprained my ankle running from that thing, who knew that'd make climbing such a pain!? Ow. And I froze half to death hiding down there, that rope came at just the right time unless you wanted me as an ice block after I swam across the lake!" she prattled. "Thank y- _Tuuri?!!_ " 

Tuuri laughed over the frantic rushing of her heart, hoping that the din of the fight and storm masked the tremors in her voice. "Well, yes! Who else?!"


End file.
